BrandonJT

Out of about 10 entries since I've had my LTR, I'd say only 2 of them were "normal." Every other time they've spent an incredibly long time inspecting my visa, my passport, and their computer, or had to call a supervisor over. In one case the supervisor had to call their supervisor over, who seemed annoyed by them and told them to let me in. There are less than 6000 LTR visas issued. Most immigration officers have never seen one. I had to wait over an hour at a DLT office once while they tried to decide if my visa qualified me for a 2 year or 5 year license renewal. I would definitely expect complications. But it's not anything bad, and having the LTR makes it all worth it.

Immigration has been closed most of those days due to weekends and holidays.

The only office to pickup the LTR visa if you want to get it in Thailand is in Bangkok.

This is incorrect, both offices have now moved to One Bangkok.

I went all the way back to January on the Chiang Mai immigration Facebook page, checked their website, and checked Google Maps. I don't see anything about a new location.

Congrats! It's a great visa to have. Make sure at the airport (both departure and arrival) if you want to use fast track, have your passport open to your LTR visa, and tell them "BOI" because if you just say LTR they will be very confused. I've even been rejected before but just forced the point and they waved a supervisor over who let me in. If you ever plan to use any land borders, expect a longer than usual wait while they try to figure out what your visa is. Per the BOI stats just today, there are still less than 6000 total LTRs issued.

You say from the 30-day extension, which makes me believe you're running low on time. You must have 14-21 days left on your stamp in order to apply. This is because you will have an under consideration period where you will get a stamp in your passport telling you to return to get the visa. Each immigration office has a different period of time, so that's why I said 14-21 days. But you can't wait until the last minute to apply. Just want to make sure you are aware.

Yes, many of the Laos borders now require either 1 or 2 nights in Laos. No, there is no new rule that says 2 times per year. 2 times per year was an old rule that went away in July 2024. If you've been in Thailand since October on border bounces, then you'll want to use a border bounce agency. They will ensure you can get out and back without any issues, and that you can bypass any overnight requirements.

Your understanding is correct. And this is all correct. It's difficult/impossible to tell what an embassy would do if you applied during the DTV the validity of the OA visa. You could try contacting the embassy to see what they say, but if you can't get a straightforward answer it's not worth the risk of losing the application fee if they reject it.

Of course not

London is known as one of the fastest Thai embassies in the world when it comes to issuing e-visas, but they might be logjammed after Songkran. No way to ensure you get your visa on time because they will certainly be closed some days next week. If you want to apply you can, but I'm not sure if it will make much difference. The safest bet would be safe entry. Put the visa fee towards that and think of it as a discount.

Because it takes moments to submit a TM30 online once the property is registered. This is how 99.9% of TM30s are submitted in Thailand.

There are no automated entry barriers. The automated gates are only for exiting.

There is already a built-in grace period for 90-day reports. You have 3 weeks to report. If you fail to report within that 3 weeks and your reporting period ends on a weekend, you will be fined regardless of when the last day was, because you had 3 weeks to do it.

As long as you are applying at an embassy, shouldn't be an issue if it's proof of income that embassy accepts.

From multiple reports, it seems to be getting the 30-day extension on a visa exempt entry that really starts to trigger the problems. It looks you got one of those less than a year ago so is probably why they told you that. You can apply for a visa if the Thai embassy in Italy through the e-visa system. Proof of financials is required at all embassies now that they have switched to e-visa.

Nah, they can't make it official. Then it has to be accounted for and on the books, and stays in the system. Nothing for the officers to keep and share upwards.

Actually there are still some land borders that use the paper form. I assume they'll retire that on May 1st.

I would see how easy/difficult it is to obtain the non-O visa based on marriage to Thai from the Thai embassy in Japan. If it's relatively simple and if you can show the funds or retirement income to apply for the visa in Japan, it would be very easy to just get this each time you want to make a 3-month trip to Thailand. That visa would give you a 90-day entry stamp, and if for some reason you need more time, you can apply for the 60-day Visiting Thai family extension as previously mentioned in this thread. That's up to 5 months on a single trip. The embassy would probably sell this to you 2x per year, so if it's a simple thing to get from Japan it would make the easiest for you, since you wouldn't have to go to immigration at all for a 90 day trip. If it's not so easy to get this visa, then you can use visa exempt as also mentioned earlier, which is currently 60 days. This would necessitate you going to immigration to apply for the 30-day extension if you want to stay for 3 months. There are multiple ways to achieve your goal, it's just finding the one that works for you with the least effort. Then if they change visa exempt back to 60-days, you can get the tourist visa from the Thai embassy instead, so you'll still get the 60+30 days. But I would still recommend the non-O if possible. I would much rather spend a few minutes on my computer at home, than wasting a day going to the immigration office to apply for an extension in Thailand.

The real mayhem will be any immigration office on April 17th after they have been closed for 5 continuous days for Songkran!

Why would an entry form negate the need to do a report 90 days later? The TDAC and 90 day report aren't related at all.

Then pick one of the million other places in Thailand to go.

If you have a new passport by the time you return, for some reason that seems to magically solve most of the potential problems. Despite the fact they have everything right there in the computer.

The 21 day thing isn't applicable to you. You are NOT CONVERTING A VISA. You are just applying for a new extension, there is no 21-day requirement for that. Go to the immigration office and ask if they will even do it first. If they won't allow you to do that type of switch of extension, then anything else is irrelevant. If you need more time for the money, you can ask about the 60 day visiting Thai Family extension.

Then my last paragraph is what applies to you. Go to your immigration office and ask them if they are willing to let you cancel your education extension and apply for a new 1-year extension based on marriage to Thai instead. If they say no, ask them if you can cancel your education extension and apply for a 60 day "Visiting Thai Family" extension. If they allow that you can get that and then apply for the marriage extension after those 60 days. Better to just go straight to the 1-year though if they will allow it. You just need to be able to the show the 400k in the bank for 2 full months on the day you apply for the 1-year extension.